Since joining Ohio State’s staff as a quality control coach in 2017, Brian Hartine has experienced a meteoric rise up the coaching ranks. In just seven years, the former Buckeye and NFL wideout has assumed four different positions on his alma mater’s offensive staff, earning promotions in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023.
Now at his highest position in his career as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, Hartline took some time to reflect on his rapid coaching ascension and the challenges that come with his new role.
Speaking with Big Ten Network’s Gerry DiNardo at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center after Friday’s practice, Hartline said that he is honored to assume his new position as the Buckeyes’ lead offensive play caller, as it is an opportunity he did not think would emerge when he first began his coaching career.
“(It’s) pretty surreal,” Hartline said. “(I’m) very humbled every day, not only with the staff that we have, but to be in the position I’m in, it’s pretty remarkable. If you had asked seven years ago if this would be the case, I would’ve laughed at you. So I wake up daily knowing I’m blessed, but it’s a lot of responsibility.”
Hartline, who served as both a passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach in 2022, admitted that it has taken some time to adjust to the new set of duties he is accepting as offensive coordinator this season. The seventh-year coach mentioned an increased role in recruiting and player development as some of the main differences in his responsibilities this season, but said the biggest challenge comes with managing and being accountable for every positional group, not just the wideouts.
“As a position coach, I feel like every time a player in our room makes a mistake, it’s my mistake,” Hartline said. “As players feel one or two mistakes a day, I feel the combination of all 15 guys going, and I have 30 mistakes, so that weighs on you. Well now when you get to offensive coordinator and the role you’re in, you feel the weight of every room. Running backs, if there’s a mistake, if there’s a scripting problem, any of those, they’re all on myself. And that’s how I view that. I hold myself accountable. So now you just feel the weight of it all, and it’s a blessing, but it’s also a responsibility.”
Hartline’s commitment to molding and caring for the entire offense has been felt throughout the locker room, particularly with head coach Ryan Day. Day, who served as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer in 2018, lauded Hartline’s vast football knowledge, but said he has made the largest impact with his ability to lead and form relationships with his players.
“When Kevin (Wilson) left (in 2022), we kept everything pretty much the way it was, it’s just Brian now has a different role in that room,” Day told Big Ten Network’s Dave Revsine on Friday. “He is very, very talented with not only what he knows, but also connecting with players.”
While Day was complimentary of his new offensive coordinator’s raw coaching intangibles, he knows that Hartline still faces a steep learning curve this fall, as many more adjustments will need to be made before he is fully comfortable in his expanded role.
“When you become a coordinator, it’s all different,” Day said. “Everybody thinks it’s about calling plays, like you just dial it up on a sheet. It’s all about the organization, the day-to-day, the scripts, watching film, making sure everything is in order. And then it’s going to come down to the game-planning and how well we can put it on the field. Those are all things he is working through the first time.”
